I bring to the Taoiseach's attention the amount of money being transferred out of Ireland in personal remittances. Over the past eight years alone over €10 billion has left the country by way of personal transfers. That is a staggering amount of money. The top five countries to which money was transferred in the past eight year include €843 million to Lithuania and €1 billion to France. The top three countries were: €1.54 billion to Poland, €2.7 billion to the United Kingdom and €3.54 billion to Nigeria. These figures have been published by the World Bank which defines "personal remittances" as the sum of personal transfers and the compensation of employees. It includes all current transfers in cash or in kind between resident and non-resident individuals independent of the source of income of the sender. The World Bank is an internationally recognised organisation and its data come from the International Monetary Fund. I can understand the transfers to other EU countries, for example, money being transferred to the United Kingdom, our nearest neighbour, with over 100,000 British people living in Ireland and over 10,000 Irish students currently studying in the United Kingdom. The fact that people living in Border counties may do their banking in the North is also a factor. But Taoiseach, €3.4 billion transferred to one non-EU country is astronomical. Have Revenue or the Department of Finance any way of tracking this money or where it is coming from?

Are mechanisms in place to ensure the money that leaves this country in personal remittances has been fully accounted for within the Irish revenue and tax system and is not the proceeds of crime or fraud? We cannot have a situation whereby vast amounts of money leave the country with no proper controls or monitoring in place. Will the Taoiseach give assurances that all of these moneys that have been transferred in personal remittances have been fully accounted for within the Irish revenue and tax system?

The numbers that the Deputy quotes are no doubt correct but I am not quite sure where he is going with this. Everyone in this House will know from the stories that their parents or grandparents told them that for many centuries, Irish people went all over the world and sent back remittances to Ireland. I remember my grandmother, all of whose family went to America, telling me about the cheques coming from the US. Those were remittances coming home from Irish people who went to America. The Deputy mentioned that there is perhaps a distinction between those going to other EU countries and those who are not. If the Deputy walks a few metres across Merrion Square into Holles Street hospital, he will see a hospital full of midwives from India, nurses from the Philippines and doctors from Egypt, Pakistan and I do not know where. They work hard and pay their taxes. Out of their post-tax income, they send some money back to their families, who probably paid for their education. That is the way the world works, and it is the way Ireland worked and still will for decades. When it comes to money laundering, financial controls or tax evasion, of course all the normal protections and controls have been put in place by Revenue to make sure that any money that is taken out of the country was legitimately earned.

We have to assure the people that the money leaving the country, which averages just over €1 billion per year, is not the proceeds of crime. I know an awful lot of it is genuine money but I wanted to get a commitment from the Government that proper controls are in place.

Where is the evidence for Deputy Grealish's question?

What is Deputy Grealish saying? This is disgraceful racism.

Money being transferred without proper controls needs to stop.

The Ceann Comhairle should call this out. He is suggesting that people who work here are criminals.

What controls are put in place to ensure that tax has been properly paid on all this money?

The Deputy should sit down. He is a disgrace.

Deputy Coppinger is totally out of order.

More remittances came back to County Galway than to most other counties from the US. Deputy Grealish's constituents know that.

I would say if Deputy Grealish went to a hospital, he would take his treatment.

I will treat Deputy Grealish's question as genuine. If he has any evidence whatsoever-----

What does the Taoiseach think is going on?

That is not evidence.

-----that anyone is sending money abroad that is not theirs, I ask him to pass that on to us and we will have that checked. I will get him a detailed reply from the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners as to what controls are in place.

I am asking what proper controls are in place. I am entitled to ask the question.

Why does Deputy Grealish assume it is illegal money if it is not going to an EU country?

I am pretty confident that many controls are in place in respect of money laundering. You can barely open a bank account in Ireland without ID.

That was out of order.